Kin or Killer?
by Darth Annihilator
Summary: Gral is not anyone's idea of a hero, least of all his own, so what happens when he's catapulted head first into a battle to save the world from a being prophesied to devour it? Follow our grumpy anti-hero as he deals with Dragons, family members, annoying elves, irritating dragon-slayers and various other things determined to drive him insane. Rated T for language and violence.
1. Chapter I: Awakening

Disclaimer: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim belongs to Bethesda, Darth Annihilator owns nothing except any characters you don't recognise like Gral or Kahlolaan.

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 **Chapter I: Awakening**

This story is the story of two destined foes; one was a Human (a Nord to be exact) with a Dragon's soul, the other was a Dragon named the World Eater. Together these two changed the world in a way no one could've expected. Our story starts on the morning of Loredas, 2nd of Frost Fall as a civil war is raging in Skyrim between the Stormcloak Rebels and the Imperial Legion. The Legion has just captured a number of high ranking officials in the Stormcloak Reballion on the border between Skyrim and Cyrodiil and is now taking them to the nearby city of Helgen for judgement. This is where we meet our protagonist.

"Hey, you're finally awake" said a man with long blonde hair, wearing a set of light armour that was coloured blue and bronze. The one he was speaking to was a reasonably tall man with a lean but muscular build, pale skin, dark red hair and cold blue eyes; his left eye was also bruised, likely from the attack which knocked him unconscious.

"You were trying to cross the border, right? Walked right into that Imperial ambush, same as us and that thief over there" he continued, gesturing at another Nord with dark brown hair, wearing ragged clothing.

"Damn you Stormcloaks, if they hadn't had been looking for you, I could've stolen that horse and been halfway to Hammerfell!" put in the horse thief after the blonde Stormcloak pointed him out before he turned to look at the red haired man "you there, we shouldn't be here… you and me, it's these Stormcloaks the Empire wants."

"We're all brothers and sisters in binds now, thief" snapped the blonde, glaring at the thief until he looked away and saw the man sat next to the redhead they'd just been talking to, he was a muscular man with dirty blonde hair, wearing fine clothes and, rather oddly, a gag.

"What's with him, huh?" wondered the thief.

"Watch your tongue, that's Ulfric Stormcloak, the TRUE High King of Skyrim" answered the blonde Nord in a dangerous tone, making the thief panic about where they were going and the redhead to look vaguely interested.

"Ulfric, the one man dumb enough to claim he bested High King Torygg in battle with no witnesses and then fled like a common murderer?" the redhead asked, his voice was a rough growl and, as such, wouldn't sound out of place on a Sabre Cat or Bear (if they could talk, that is). His comment displeased the blonde Nord who attempted to lunge at him but was held back by an Imperial soldier on horseback near to the cart.

"Shut up back there!" snapped the soldier driving the cart.

"Well I apologise for our conversation being too philosophical for YOUR pay grade" retorted the redhead, causing the Stormcloaks in the cart to laugh (despite their opinion of him), the soldier to growl and the thief to panic even more.

"Hey, what village are you from, horse thief?" asked the Nord after calming down as the cart rounded a corner.

"Why do you care?" asked the thief suspicously

"A Nord's last thoughts should be of home."

"Rorikstead, I'm from Rorikstead."

"And you?"

"Doesn't matter, I'm no longer welcome there" replied the redhead, frowning at the memory before they saw a silver haired Imperial wearing fine armour conversing with a group of High Elves, causing the Nord to go into a scornful rant about the man and the elves, who were identified as General Tullius and the Thalmor respectively. The carts came to a stop soon after, causing the thief to profess his innocence repeatedly and loudly, which annoyed the redhead.

"Be silent horse thief, before I kill you myself!" he grumbled, which got a few odd looks from the people surrounding him. They then started reading names off a list, ordering the prisoners to go to the executioners block, the horse thief (who it was revealed was named Lokir) attempted to run but was killed by a well-placed arrow to his back, after that, it was the redhead's turn.

"Wait, you… step forward, who are you?" asked the man with the list, he was about six feet tall, slightly bulkier than the redhead and was clean shaven with dirty blonde hair a couple of shades darker than Ulfric's.

"My name is Gral" answered the redhead "Gral Rahgol Krosis"

"Telling us an obviously fake name like that will not save you from the chopping block, now tell us your real name this instant!" interrupted the Captain, mocking Gral's name.

"I DID tell you my real name, it is not my fault you're either deaf or just plain stupid" he snapped, glaring at the Captain who glared right back at him.

"Please don't provoke the Captain, the results aren't pleasant for the soldiers under her command" requested Hadvar, grimacing before turning to her "Captain, what should we do? He's not on the list. All the other names have been matched to the other prisoners, meaning the name he gave is the only name we have for him."

"Forget the list, he goes to the block. Perhaps that'll teach him to watch what he says."

"By your orders Captain; I'm sorry, we'll make sure your remains are returned to your family."

"Why apologise for something that is not your fault?" asked Gral as he walked next to Hadvar as they headed for the block "also, don't bother with my remains. Just burn them and then chuck them on a field or something. My blood relations won't care for my death and my true father would take more solace from the fact that I did something useful in death than he would from being given a corpse."

"As you wish, I suppose…" said Hadvar as they arrived at a gathering at the executioners block. A Stormcloak had just been executed and Gral's name was the next one called as a roar echoed through the mountains.  
He walked forward (stopping to spit in the face of the Captain he'd had disagreements with and getting a fist to the face for doing so) and was positioned to be executed as a large, black thing caught his eye. It flew in and landed on the roof of the building near to him, causing the ground to shake and the headsman to be knocked off balance and drop his axe. Gral quickly ran his bindings along the blade of the axe and got up, just as someone shouted "DRAGON!" and the Dragon shouted something, causing the sky to turn orange and black as giant, flaming meteorites to fell to the ground. This caused mass panic and allowed the Stormcloaks to escape into a nearby tower, which the Nord from before (who was identified as Ralof) called him over.

"Jarl Ulfric, what was that? Could the legends be true?" Ralof asked as Gral slammed the door behind him.

"Legends don't burn down villages…" replied Ulfic, his voice strong and somewhat noble sounding.

"I don't know if you've noticed, but THAT legend out there is burning down this village" interjected Gral in a rather irate manner, causing Ulfric to glare at him and the other Stormcloaks to tense, about to start a fight, but before they could, a tremor rocked the tower they were in.

"We need to move, NOW" the Jarl barked, ordering all those who could run to leave the tower, Gral and Ralof decided to head further up the tower.

"Let's just hope we can get off the roof before… LOOK OUT!" said Gral as they ascended before the Dragon headbutted the wall and bathed the area in fire, which annoyed Gral considerably "Hello to you too. Next time actually try to hit me unless you are dim-sighted in addition to being the ugliest creature I've ever seen! Tell me, is this attack merely an attempt to impress the females of your kind since they find you so repulsive to look at?"

The Dragon did not take kindly to Gral's words if its attempt to reduce him to cinders with its glare was any indication, getting angrier and angrier as he continued to talk, which may explain why it then decided to sink its teeth into his right shoulder and toss him through the roof (and the first floor) of the local inn, where he landed on a (ruined) bed surrounded by mead bottles.

"Zu'u fund ag hi het waan Zu'u rund hi bahlaan do dii yolos, hi vonizraad mal vorenaak! Ahrk fah umaak, Zu'u los punah" the Dragon said as it flew off to terrorise some other part of Helgen, meanwhile, Gral groaned and raised his head.

"Ow… okay… note to self: don't piss of the giant female lizards with anger issues" he groaned as he stood, holding one side as his ribs were giving him considerable pain from being thrown through a bulding. He picked up a bottle of mead and exited the inn through a nigh destroyed wall in the side, where he saw the Imperial soldier named Hadvar trying to coax a young boy over to him when the Dragon landed behind the child.

"It's official, I'm insane" he muttered as he ran in front of the Dragon and grabbed the boy, picking him up and tossing him to Hadvar before they all took refuge behind the wall as the Dragon let out another stream of flame.

"Still alive prisoner? Keep close to me if you want to stay that way" said Hadvar as he and Gral ran through the remains of Helgen towards the Keep, after a dispute between Hadvar and Ralof, Gral and Hadvar managed to enter what appeared to be a barracks through a side door in the Keep. Gral took this opportunity to take a swig of the mead he'd obtained before looking at his shoulder, which was bleeding quite heavily from the bite.

"Looks like we're the only ones who made it" observed Hadvar, heading over to the door after about ten minutes of waiting and locked it "Was that really a Dragon, the bringers of the End Times?"

"I certainly hope not, that thing was far too ugly to be the cause of an apocalypse" joked Gral which got him an odd look from Hadvar, he sighed "Never mind, it was a bad joke anyway. I think we should focus on getting out of here alive before trying to find out what in Oblivion that thing was or what it wanted with Helgen."

"I think you're right, try and find something useful in those chests over there, there should also be a sword or two in here somewhere" said Hadvar, pointing at some chests at the end of the beds and on the other side of the room "I'm going to see if I can't find something for these burns…"

After tearing his shirt apart and using the remains as makeshift bandages, Gral looked around the room and found a set of Imperial Light Armour in the chests alongside a couple of Iron Swords on the sword rack before some bottles on one of the tables caught his eye. He strode over and shook them which told him that they were empty.

"Why is the rum always gone?" he muttered as Hadvar came over with a couple of makeshift bandages over his burns, he noticed what Gral was looking at.

"Ah, I wouldn't bother if I were you. The officers always get first pick on the alcohol rations, so it's a rarity that any rum is left over for the rest of us" he said, making Gral give a sound of amusement.

"I was actually hoping to use it to clean these bite marks before we left, but I guess I'll just have to make do with magic" Gral replied before holding up his hand to his shoulder, a golden glow emitting from it and surrounding the wounds.

"You're a healer?" Hadvar asked, surprised that the abrasive man knew healing magic as he thought that Gral was more of a warrior, given his rather rude demeanour.

"I know enough to keep myself and a few allies alive, but the effectiveness of the spells I know is limited by the damage of the wound, especially if they are untreated beforehand" Gral answered, testing the sharpness of the swords he found and discovering that they were fairly blunt "Your equipment here isn't kept in very good condition, is it?"

"No, most of the Imperial bases and strongholds here are fairly old, since the Legion hasn't needed a very strong presence is Skyrim until recently, so few bases outside of Castle Dour in Solitude have properly maintained equipment. Regardless, I think we should get out of here. Follow me." Hadvar turned and walked over to a door, pulled a chain next to it causing the door to open, they were heading to the next door when they heard voices "Stormcloaks, maybe we can reason with them…"

"I wouldn't bet on it." muttered Gral as they entered, resulting in the Stormcloaks pulling out their Iron Warhammers and charging the two. Gral quickly grabbed the handle of the hammer that was swung at him and thrust it upwards, knocking the hammer off course; he then kicked the Stormcloak wielding it in the stomach before slamming the handle of the hammer into their face, forcing them to release it and fall to the ground, he then spun the hammer round and slammed the blunt end into the head of the Stormcloak, killing him. He turned to see Hadvar avoiding numerous swings of the other Stormcloak's hammer so he threw his stolen hammer at the Stormcloak, who ducked to dodge it, which allowed Hadvar to get in close and stab her through the chest with his Imperial Sword.

"Well, their armour was utterly useless, your sword cut straight through it" remarked Gral as Hadvar cleaned the blood off his sword.

"The Stormcloaks specialise in hit-and-run tactics, so their armour is designed to allow for easier and faster movement in addition to protection against light arrow fire. However, this makes it virtually useless in a prolonged fight against an opponent with proper weaponry, such as the average Legionnaire" Hadvar explained.

The two headed through the Keep in a similar manner, killing numerous Stormcloaks that attempted to attack them until they reached a torture room, which had a passage going out the back of it. Seeing this as their only way out, they followed it until they reached a cave system, where they heard a roar and the passage caved in behind them.

"Well Hadvar, I do believe we can't get out that way" Gral said to the soldier, causing him to let out a chuckle as they walked through the caves and found a stream.

"Look, a stream, if we follow it we may find the way out" said Hadvar as they followed it; they soon had to turn off and into a lair of Frostbite Spiders, the inhabitants of which greeted them by spraying Frostbite Venom at them.

"Yeesh, why is it always spiders? I hate spiders, why couldn't it be a lair of butterflies for once?" complained Gral as he threw one of his Iron Swords at a spider, piercing its head and killing it instantly, he then clenched his fist before opening it again, palm facing towards the spiders, as a torrent of flames emerged from his hand and burned a number of the spiders. After that, it was a simple matter of mopping up the rest of the spiders with Hadvar's help and soon they were on their way again.

"Wait, look over there" said Hadvar, holding up a hand to stop Gral before pointing at a mother bear on the opposite side of the cavern to them "I'd rather not tangle with her now, we'd better just sneak by."

"Aw, that's cute" whispered Gral to Hadvar as they saw two cubs sleeping nearby the mother as they sneaked by, the mother opened an eye to watch them as they went.

"Heh, bit of a softie at heart, are you?" Hadvar teased when they exited the bear's cavern and saw an opening in the rock face.

"Only with certain animals."

"Well, that's honestly… GET DOWN!" Hadvar barked and the two took cover behind a rock as the black Dragon flew over them and in the direction of another mountain "I'm honestly still in shock from Helgen, did that actually happen?"

"I'd say yes" replied Gral, watching where the Dragon had gone, brow furrowed in thought and pain as the pain in his side had dulled slightly but not much. The fighting had also reopened some of the wounds on his shoulder, so he had to use his magic to heal them again, though his shoulder still felt quite tender.

"Why do you think it decided to attack Helgen? And why now?"

"I've no idea. From what I know though, Dragons rarely do something without reason - especially an attack on this scale - this must've been a planned move."

"For what though?"

"Who knows? I could make a few guesses but I suspect that none of them will be correct."

"Well, it does us no good to just stand here and talk about it. Riverwood's near here and my uncle's the blacksmith there, we can go to him for shelter" said Hadvar, turning and walking down the mountain, keeping a look out for wolves and trolls. Gral soon followed, which reminded Hadvar of something he said in Helgen "You said that your family wouldn't care about your death, were you serious when you said that?"

"My family and I rarely got along, so - as you can imagine - we parted on extremely bad terms" Gral answered, looking at Hadvar seriously, eyes showing no signs of deception "When I left, they told me in no uncertain terms that they'd rejoice if I somehow got myself killed and in return, I told them to go and choke on the ash from the eruption of Red Mountain."

"Ah, family quarrels are the worst. Fortunately, my family is quite close so we rarely fight, and never to that level."

"You're lucky, try to hold onto it as long as possible" said Gral, looking out over the horizon as Hadvar gave an affirmative response, the two walked in silence for a while before Hadvar spoke again.

"Your fighting back there was amazing, have you ever considered joining the Legion?"

"I had to learn to fight like that to survive, but in answer to your question: No, fighting in wars has never really interested me and now there's just too much politics involved with the Legion. I also think they're going too far to appease the Thalmor when they should be focused on rebuilding from the war, making them appear even weaker than they currently are… Ah, no offence."

"None taken, I can see your point but I hope you'll reconsider, the Legion could use a soldier like you and not just for your skills; your outlook is perfect for it, I heard what you said about Ulfric in the cart and I definitely agree. There are too many people joining the Legion just because they want glory or honor rather than to protect the Empire and if the rebels somehow have gotten themselves a Dragon, then General Tullius is the only one who can stop them."

"Hm…" the conversation carried on like this with both men exchanging stories and jokes until they came into view of a large ruin built into the side of a mountain.

"You see that old ruin over there? That's Bleak Falls Barrow, I remember that the place used to give me nightmares when I was younger… Draugr coming down from the mountain to creep in through my window, things like that" said Hadvar, frowning as he looked at the ruin, making Gral look at him "I'll admit, I still don't like the looks of the place…"

"Hm, my family lives almost next door to one; dealing with angry Draugr was a real pain. Fortunately, we never had to deal with any Draugr Deathlords" replied Gral as they set off again.

"Deathlords?"

"Draugr that somehow can use the power of The Voice despite being dead. I suspect they were formerly the worshippers of Dragons, which is how they learned how to use The Voice" Gral's explanation carried the two into reached Riverwood where Hadvar headed for a store with a forge outside being worked on by a Nord male with dirty blonde hair.

"Hadvar, is that you? What're you doing here and not in Helgen? And who is this?" the blacksmith asked, bewildered at his nephew's sudden appearance with a complete stranger.

"Uncle Alvor, it's good to see you. However I can't really explain here, it's too long of a story and I can hardly believe it myself, do you have somewhere we can talk privately?" replied Hadvar, which caused Alvor to pack his things away and invite the two into his house, there Havar proceeded to explain what had happened in Helgen "… In fact, if it weren't for Gral here, I wouldn't have been able to get to Riverwood to tell you what happened. He saved my life several times."

"Tch, don't be ridiculous Hadvar, you'd have done just fine without me. You saved me a couple of times as well" put in Gral, unwilling to allow Hadvar to undermine his own achievements.

"That may be, but we're thankful to you for bringing Hadvar home, but I'd like to ask you to do something else for us" said Alvor, looking at Gral approvingly but slightly pleadingly "The Jarl needs to know what happened at Helgen, especially if that Dragon comes back, Riverwood is defenceless. Could you go to Whiterun and inform the Jarl and try to get him to send some soldiers to protect the town?"

"Sure, but may I use your forge first? I can't stand wearing this light Imperial piece of crap for much longer, so I was going to forge myself a set of Steel Armour" answered Gral, giving his Imperial Light Armour (which was looking worse for wear) a dirty look, Alvor shook his head.

"I have a ready-made set of Steel Plate Armour which I'll give you free of charge if you do this for me" he said, getting an interested look from Gral though he wondered what the catch was "The only issue is that it won't be my best work as I've not had time to adjust it to make it a better fit."

"That won't be a problem, I could set out for Whiterun as soon as you want me to" replied Gral, soon after, Gral was clad in the set of Plate Armour except for the helmet, which was resting under his arm "Thank you for your hospitality, I'll make sure that the first thing I do when I get to Whiterun is let the Jarl know about Riverwood."

After bidding farewell to Hadvar and his family, Gral set off towards Whiterun using a hastily drawn map Alvor had given him for direction. Eventually, after about an hour of walking, he came across a number of farms with a path near to them that appeared to lead to a city that sat upon a large rock formation, but before he could do anything, he had to duck under a flailing Giant's club as a group of people were attacking it. Not knowing what was going on, Gral decided to wait until the Giant had been defeated to find out what was going on, much to the chagrin of one of the warriors.

"The beast is defeated, no thanks to you" said one of the warriors, she was a Nord that was about 5 foot 8 with reddish-brown hair and brown and green face-paint on that resembled a claw mark across her face.

"Didn't look like my fight, I don't get involved in fights that aren't mine" replied Gral, after taking off his helmet to speak to her, face to face.

"That may be, but a true Nord would've gotten involved for the promise of glory alone."

"I think the word you're looking for there isn't "Nord" but "fool"."

"And that's a milk-drinker's response if I ever heard one, you may look tough, but I bet you couldn't fight your way out of a wet paper bag."

"Is that a challenge?" asked Gral, frowning at her which caused her to laugh at him mockingly and then start taunting him. Gral's frown deepened before he took a step forward and slammed his forehead into her nose, causing her to be knocked to the floor with a bleeding nose "I guess I've got enough fight in me to knock you down."

"He's got you there Aela" said a black haired man with a very muscular build and was clad in a set of heavy armour that Gral didn't recognise, laughing at the female's misfortune "I'm Farkas, you've already met Aela, we're members of The Companions."

"The Companions? That's the elite group of warriors that does mercenary work, right?"

"Yes, and you could join us if you wished, maybe put that head of yours to use" put in Aela, while holding her nose to stop the bleeding.

"Perhaps I will, but I have an important errand to run before I do anything."

"That's not an issue, just visit Jorrvaskr if you're interested and talk to Kodlak" said Farkas as they left, Gral followed them up to Whiterun but had a bit of trouble with the guards, which meant he lost them in the hustle and bustle of Whiterun during the day.

"Excuse me but where could I find the Jarl of this Hold?" Gral asked, stopping a nearby guard who directed him to the palace at the top of the hill, which was named Dragonsreach. Upon entering it, Gral attempted to deliver his warning but was held up by the Jarl's housecarl, a Dark Elf named Irileth, who only let him pass when he explained that he was here with information on Helgen and a request for aid from Riverwood.

"Irileth, who is this?" asked a fair haired Nord sat on the throne, he wore fine clothing so Gral assumed he was the Jarl of the Hold.

"A survivor from Helgen milord, he claims to know what happened." replied Irileth.

"Well, don't keep me waiting, spit it out."

"It's a long story, so to shorten it I'll just say that a Dragon attacked and destroyed Helgen" replied Gral, a bit annoyed at the Jarl's attitude but keeping his tongue in check as Riverwood needed aid.

"A Dragon, are you sure?"

"Positive, my lord. I know enough about Dragons to accurately identify them when I see them." replied Gral while thinking _'I'd be concerned if I didn't, having grown up around them the way I did'_ , this resulted in an argument between the Jarl, his advisor and Irileth, ending up with the Jarl deciding to send troops to Riverwood to reinforce it in the event of a Dragon attack. After sending Irileth to inform the troops and his advisor to do his job, the Jarl turned to Gral.

"I am thankful for what you have done for me and my Hold, most people would've just followed their own agenda but you sought me out to inform me of this threat to Whiterun, you've done me a great service and I won't forget it."

"Hm, it's nothing. I owed Alvor a debt for helping me out the way he did and he asked me to inform you of the Dragon in return, besides I'm not the type of person to leave innocents to die" responded Gral but then his ribs sent a spike of pain through him, reminding him that he still had not had them looked at, as the Jarl continued talking about another task that Gral could do for him "Forgive me, but can this wait until tomorrow morning? I need rest and I'd like to have my side and shoulder looked at by a proper healer because the Dragon tossed me through an inn and they've still not recovered, as all I could do was basic treatment of them."

"Certainly, you should go to the Temple of Kynareth. If there's anywhere in Whiterun to fix up your injuries, it's there. I'll have a guard escort you down"

After the guard had escorted him to the Temple, the healer - a woman named Danica Pure-Spring - identified that his ribs had been cracked by the fall through the inn and that his cuts from the Dragon's teeth had mostly healed but would leave some fairly nasty scars. She stated that she was amazed that he made it out of Helgen and to Whiterun at all. After giving him a couple of potions, a meal and ordering him to rest for the night, she bustled off to deal with other patients, leaving Gral alone with his thoughts.

' _Well, this has been an eventful couple of days in Skyrim, a Dragon returning and attacking Helgen is not a good sign, though I'm sure Kahlolaan and his followers would've been happy to see it. Actually, that reminds me, that Dragon looked familiar, like I've seen her somewhere before or I know of her, but that's impossible; the only dragon I know is Kahlolaan, all the others were either killed or in hiding, so why was that one familiar?  
Meh, I won't get anywhere thinking about it, I need to get some sleep so I'm ready to do the Jarl's task, probably sending me into one of those abandoned burial sites…'_

With that last thought, Gral shut his eyes and dozed off.

 **Scene Change: Skuldafn**

The black Dragoness that had attacked Helgen sat on a pillar, deep in thought. She had midnight black scales, eyes that were a dark shade of crimson, a powerful set of wings and sharp claws arming each digit on her four feet **(A/N: Basically, Alduin looks like a proper Dragon from mythology, specifically a western-style dragon; the dragons we see in Skyrim are more akin to Wyverns in appearance, so I'm having their appearance showing their status, the lesser Dragons look like the in game ones whereas the ones with higher status like Alduin and Paarthurnax (being the children of Akatosh, hence having higher status) will resemble regular dragons)**. She was soon joined by another Dragon with red scales and green eyes with slit pupils; he looked like a smaller but bulkier version of the black Dragoness in terms of physical shape, though he appeared to have more battle scars than she did.

"Thuri, I take it your attack on the joor settlement went well" said the red dragon in a deep, rough male voice as he landed, causing the Dragoness to look at him.

"Of course it did Odahviing, I have not been gone for so long that I cannot handle a single joor village" barked the Dragoness at Odahviing.

"Of course not thuri, but you seem deep in thought, might I enquire as to why?" the Dragoness paused at Odahviing's question, before looking up at the sky which was littered with stars and an aurora could be seen cutting across the view of them.

"One of the joor - a Human - carried the smell of Dov. It was stronger than even the scent of a Dovahkiin; had I not known better, I'd have thought he was a Dovah Sonaak."

"It was probably one of Kahlolaan's followers, some of them are descended from Nahkriin, I believe. That's what likely gave him the smell he had."

"If that were true, the fool would've been on the floor bowing and grovelling, not going out of his wayto insult me, it is… vexing. Although, I must admit that his blood tasted good and throwing him through a building was extremely satisfying" the Dragoness said while licking her lips, her face morphing into a dark grin at the memory.

"Indeed it is thuri, but I fear I have no answers for you… Krosis" apologised Odahviing which caused the Dragoness to look at him with slight annoyance.

"Do not apologise to me for something that doesn't require one, fahdon" she said, giving Odahviing a warm look before looking up into the sky again "You may not know have answers, but I think we both know someone does, KAHLOLAAN!"

"I was hoping we needn't involve him thuri" said Odahviing, displeasure lacing his tone "his attitude is most… irritating."

"I know, but while I will admit that this joor interests me, he also confuses me and I do not like being confused" she replied, annoyance evident in her voice and body language which only increased when a bronze coloured Dragon came into view; unlike the other two, he had no forelegs but rather used his wings as a substitute.

"Alduin, Thuri; it does my heart good to see you again" grovelled the Dragon, bowing so low his nose touched the floor.

"Get up you fool!" barked Alduin, snarling at him "I did not summon you here to listen to that kuyiz! I summoned you to ask why a joor I encountered had a stronger scent of Dov than a Dovahkiin."

"Well, I have a number of followers; some of them are direct descendants of Nahkriin, so maybe you met one of them?"

"Do you really think me as stupid enough to not consider that possibility? Your rez would not dare insult me like this one did."

"Ah… I have an idea of who it might be, if I may be so bold, thuri: what did this joor look like?"

"Tall for a joor, pale skin, red hair, human, male!" answered Alduin, gritting her teeth in anger both at Kahlolaan's grovelling and memory of the human's rudeness.

"Ah… I see you've met Gral then, thuri" replied Kahlolaan, looking ashamed of the fact that he knew the human who'd insulted Alduin.

"Who?"

"Gral, Gral Rahgol Krosis. He's the eldest son of my most devoted worshippers and one of Nahkriin's descendants, he was always fighting against the rule and teachings of his family and eventually left them roughly nine years ago, we've not heard from him since."

"Why does this… Gral have the name of a Dov?" interrupted Odahviing, drawing Alduin's interest as well, as she was wondering the same thing "Surely your little rez wouldn't be arrogant enough to dare give their offspring the name of a Dov…"

"No, they aren't. I named him" answered Kahlolaan, wondering precisely how to explain this properly "Since they are my most devoted worshippers, they - and their ancestors before them - dedicate their kiir to me and in return I name them. Gral was always a fighter, even as a yunkliin, so I granted him a name that reflected his nature… I would even go as far as saying that he would've been a great successor to Nahkriin, had he not left."

"I notice you speak highly of him when you would normally speak of him as the worst of vax, why?" interjected Alduin, eyeing Kahlolaan analytically, knowing he hates people who do not worship Dragons and hates those who leave his little group of worshippers even more.

"Gral was like a Dov in a joor's body, he never bowed to anyone unless they proved themselves superior to him and even then, he would still train to best them - a trait which was the one of main reasons for his fights with his family - and by the time he left, he was one of the best warriors I had ever seen. In fact, his attitude reminded me a lot of you and Paarthurnax in the old days, thuri. I despise him for leaving and would not hesitate to tear him to shreds if we ever crossed paths again, but I also respect him for his abilities which will have only grown since then" replied Kahlolaan, getting lost in his memories and rambling, much to the annoyance of Odahviing and Alduin "It's a shame you never met him while he served me thuri, I think you would have liked him."

"If he was anything like he was when I first met him - or anything like you for that matter - it's more likely I'd kill him out of sheer annoyance" muttered Alduin, much to Odahviing's amusement "Now be gone, Kahlolaan. Your prattle is most… alunrinis."

Kahlolaan left after some more grovelling and soon after Odahviing left Alduin to her thoughts. _'If that fool got one thing right, it's that the joor does interest me; to earn such high praise from Kahlolaan when he despises you is not an easy feat'_ she thought as she tucked her head under her wing to sleep _'Gral Rahgol Krosis, I will be watching you with great interest…'_

* * *

 **Well that's a wrap everyone; This fic was heavily inspired by Kiliani's You Are Mine, Dovahkiin and MaChaoJustice's Legend of Saviik so you will see extremely similar themes and ideas but I hope that my fic will be different enough to not piss off those two and for my lovely readers to enjoy it. Also if you've not seen the two fics I just mentioned, I'd highly recommend checking them out, they are really good pieces of writing and a brilliant addition to the Elder Scrolls fanfiction archive.  
Right, that's enough of my fanperson babbling, here's the Thu'um translations, straight from the Legacy Translator on the website:**

 _Gral Rahgol Krosis - Ruin Rage Sorrow_

 _Zu'u fund ag hi het waan Zu'u rund hi bahlaan do dii yolos, hi vonizraad mal vorenaak! Ahrk fah umaak, Zu'u los punah - I would burn you here if I found you worthy of my flames, you insignificant little parasite! And for the record, I am female._

 _Kahlolaan - Pride Deceive Want, the name of the Dragon that Gral's family worship._

 _Thuri - My Overlord_

 _Joor - Mortal_

 _Odahviing - Winged Snow Hunter, the name of one of Alduin's top lieutenants._

 _Dov - Dragon_

 _Dovahkiin - Dragon Born or Dragon Hunter Born_

 _Dovah Sonaak - Dragon Priest_

 _Nahkriin - Vengance_

 _Kuyiz - drivel_

 _Fahdon - friend_

 _Alduin - Destroyer Devour Master, the name of Akatosh's first born, the World Eater and the main antagonist for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim._

 _Rez - pet/pets_

 _Kiir - children_

 _Yunkliin - hatchling_

 _Vax - traitor/traitors_

 _Paarthurnax - Ambition Overlord Cruelty, the name of Akatosh's second born, Alduin's younger brother and master of the Greybeards._

 _Alunrinis - boring_

 **EDIT (12/08/2018): As some of you may have noticed, this is not the original Chapter I of my fic. I've rewritten the chapter but kept most of the framework from the original, but changed some things that I didn't like after a recent reading of the chapters, mainly some of Gral's lines and I've done a fair bit of alteration to my original plans for Alduin's character in this, which may not be as noticeable in the amended chapters, but she's had a few line changes as well. Other than that, not too many changes have been made, so I hope that the changes are actually improvements, so please let me know what you think abut them (if they're noticeable or not, if they work well with the fic etc.).**

 **Well, that's all I really have to say, let me know what you think. Do you love it? Hate it? Think it needs improvement? Let me know by a review, PM, follow or favourite. I only ask that reveiws/PMs are written in a polite and comprehensible manner and that any constructive criticism you have is included; flames will be ignored and deleted. Any feedback is appreciated provided it follows the rules clearly stated, other than that, let me know what you think... And I'm rambling because I'm a tad nervous, it's still my first Elder Scrolls fic and I want to to it well. The pairing has also been decided as Gral/Alduin.**

 **So, until next time,**

 **Darth Annihilator - Out.**


	2. Chapter II: Idiotic Draugr

Disclaimer: Darth Annihilator does NOT own The Elder Scrolls series, do you really think he'd be here if he did?

* * *

 **Chapter II: Idiotic Draugr**

Gral awoke the next day to Danica marvelling over his clean bill of health, saying that even with Restoration Magic and potions he should've been bed-ridden for another two days at minimum.

"I'm a fast healer, now don't you have something more important to do than fawning over me?" grumbled Gral which caused Danica to give him an annoyed look but she wandered off to see to another patient regardless. After this little exchange, Gral donned his Steel Plate Armour and headed for Dragonsreach, where the Jarl introduced him to the Court Wizard Farengar Secret-Fire, explaining that Farengar had a task for him.

"So you are the one Jarl Balgruuf saw fit to assign this task to, what I need you to do is fetch an item for me" he said to Gral in a slightly condescending manner.

"Fetch what from where? I'm going to need some more context than that" said Gral grumpily since he hadn't had breakfast yet and wasn't in the mood for word games, his comment resulted in a glare from Farengar.

"If you had just waited, I would have told you. When I said fetch, what I actually meant was delve deep into the depths of an old ruin in search of an artefact which may or may not even be there."

"What's so important about this possibly nonexistant artefact?" asked Gral, making sure he wasn't wasting his time on this possible wild goose chase.

"Not just a regular brute eh, but a learned one, perhaps even a scholar? Well I - like many others - long believed the Dragons to be mere myth and fantasy until you arrived with news about Helgen. From there, I poured over the ancient texts and sure enough, the patterns were there – hidden in the data – proving the existence of Dragons. This artefact, the Dragonstone, could be critical in determining where the Dragons went all those years ago and how they're making a come-back now" answered Farengar, his eyes lit up with excitement as he marked a map of Skyrim with the possible location of the Dragonstone, which just so happened to be Bleak Falls Barrow and handed it to Gral, who headed off to find the artefact. About an hour later, he was ascending the mountain which the Barrow was built into when he came across a ruined tower with a few bandits who thought it'd be a good idea to attack him; the first bandit swung at him with an Iron Sword but Gral ducked under it, grabbed her wrist and broke it before he grabbed the sword and used it to stab the second bandit in his unarmoured chest while the first bandit fell on the floor in pain, right by a cliff's edge with a steep drop. Gral noticed this so he kicked the bandit in her stomach, causing her to roll off the side of the cliff and fall to her death, he then decided to check out the tower but was attacked as he ascended the stairs to the first floor by another bandit wearing Banded Iron Armour and carrying an Iron Shield and Sword, Gral quickly grabbed his sword arm and held it away from him while his other hand grabbed the exposed neck of the bandit and lifted him off of the floor while also applying enough pressure to force the bandit to drop his shield and attempt to force Gral to release him, which just annoyed Gral.

"I would've let you live had you not attacked me but since you've really pissed me off, I'm going to show you how long the way down is" he said, confusing the bandit as shown by the "huh?" he let out before Gral threw him over the edge of the stairs and let gravity take its course, hearing a loud CRUNCH as the bandit hit the floor, after looting the tower and heading on, encountering more bandits on the outside of Bleak Falls Barrow and dispatching them in a similar manner before he entered the Barrow, there he heard a rather interesting conversation.

"So we're just supposed to sit here while Arvel runs off with that golden claw?" said one bandit to his comrades.

"That Dark Elf wants to go ahead, let him. Better than us risking our necks" replied a second, female this time.

"What if Arvel doesn't come back? I want my share from that claw!" responded the first.

"Just shut it and keep an eye out for trouble" chimed in a third. Here Gral walked out only to get attacked by all three at once but he grabbed one and threw him into the path of another's Warhammer, resulting in that bandit meeting a rather messy end and angering his colleagues who he killed by stabbing them both with his Iron Swords. After cleaning his swords of blood, he looted the comp the bandits had set up, finding a couple of Iron weapons and about 50 Septims in all… the currency that is, not the family.  
From then on he headed further into the Barrow, finding a few bits and bobs here and there with the most notable find being a Fireball scroll, which he was about to discard until he heard someone calling for help. Curious, he followed the voice until he came upon a room covered in spider webs, much to his displeasure.

"Why is it always those bloody spiders?" he groaned before seeing a Dark Elf trussed up in webbing _'Hm, that must be the Arvel that those idiots were talking about earlier'_ he thought before noticing a BIG Frostbite Spider, which the Dark Elf was begging him to get rid of and free him.

"NOPE! YOU'RE SO ON YOUR OWN WITH THAT JOB!" shouted Gral back as the Spider shot webbing and Frostbite Venom at him, causing him to duck and then remember the scroll he had, he quickly clenched his fist around the scroll and poured magicka into it, causing the scroll to activate and encase his fist with a fireball which he shot at the Spider, causing an explosion of fire and driving the Spider back a bit, resulting in the thorax of the Spider crashing into the Elf's web prison.

"Oops" said Gral, seeing this and sounding amused when he said it before the Spider lunged at him and tried to stab him with its fangs but Gral quickly ran towards the Spider and slid under it on his knees while stabbing its underbelly with one of his swords as he did so "HEY! Why are you angry at me? It was the Elf that touched your thorax, not me."  
This comment appeared to anger the Spider even more as it attempted to stab him with its fangs again which only got it an Iron Sword in its head but that STILL didn't kill it.

"Wow, you are one lucky arachnid, that would've killed most things quite cleanly" Gral said as he jumped on it and ran to its middle and used his agility to slide under it and retrieve his other sword which he then used to aid him with his balance as he climbed on the spider again and it started fidgeting, trying to throw him off, annoying Gral "Can't you stop fidgeting? It's like you want an extremely painful death."

He finished this off by reaching his other sword and stabbing the Spider's head with them repeatedly, pulling one out as he sank the other in and repeating the process as the Spider tried desperately to throw him off until it finally went still and collapsed, Gral jumped off it, holding his swords in a reverse grip, letting their tips drag along the floor to produce a metallic scratching sound as he approached the bound Elf, who didn't seem to be too pleased by the situation.

"Good, good, you've killed it. Now cut me down from here" said the Elf in an arrogant tone which annoyed Gral even more than the giant Spider had.

"I'd advise speaking to the man who just saved your sorry arse from being lunch with a little more respect" snapped Gral, giving the Elf an extremely intimidating glare "I'm assuming you're Arvel if you colleagues' description was anything to go by."

"Yes I'm Arvel, now cut me down or you'll never get the claw and the power the Nords have hidden here" replied the now named Arvel, trying to tempt Gral with the promise of power and wealth, which didn't impress Gral at all.

"I didn't come here for claws or power, so what are you talking about?" growled Gral, holding one of his swords up to Arvel's neck threateningly "Explain quickly or this web will be decorated with your blood."

"OKAY, OKAY! The claw opens the door to the main chamber where treasures of massive value are held, I know how they fit together so release me and I'll show you."

' _He's obviously lying and no doubt intends to take off after I release him, but I can use him to draw the Draugr's attention and to find any traps'_ thought Gral before slicing the webbing apart, cutting Arvel free and allowing him to run off calling Gral a fool, Gral halfheartedly aimed a stab at him but missed as the Dark Elf ran away taunting him, to which Gral responded with a sinister warning "You can run Arvel, but you'll only die tired…"

Gral followed him through the crypt, watching as he narrowly avoided death by a Draugr's axe and a spiked door before he fell over and turned around to see Gral stalking up to him, swords drawn and held ready.

"You… you used me to get through the crypt…" realised Arvel, eyes widening in terror as Gral approached, a bloodthirsty smile on his face, showing sharp canines. Arvel also though he saw Gral's pupils narrow to vertical slits but dismissed it as a hallucination due to his fear, he desperately swung at Gral with his Iron Sword but left himself wide open, which allowed Gral to dodge the swing and slice his sword arm off. Arvel cried out and recoiled away from Gral, hoping for something to save him from the angry Nord "You… you're a… monster…"

"I don't like being double crossed Arvel, especially by someone I just saved" replied Gral, seizing Arvel by his neck and lifting him up to eye level "And now you pay the price for betrayal."

"Please… there must be something I can do… some form of reparation I can offer…"

"Your services are no longer required, this tomb is now yours" replied Gral coldly, cutting Arvel's head clean off before shaking his own head _'Just what was that all about? It was like some red haze clouded my mind when Arvel ran, why did I react like that? It was like Kahlolaan when one of the newer followers tried to leave, could Kahlolaan's influence on me be stronger than I thought?'_ he wondered as he collected a golden statue of a claw and Arvel's journal from his corpse before he wandered through the rest of the Barrow, killing Draugr and nearly being sliced to ribbons by a trap until he reached a door with three carvings of animals on it, all stacked on top of each other, and a stone circle with three indentations on it.

' _Hm, those carvings look like they can be moved, are they similar to the statues earlier on in the Barrow? If so, what's the combination? Those indentations look like they could fit the claw, maybe it has a clue'_ he thought turning the claw around in his hands before he saw some carvings in the palm of the claw, realising that this was the correct combination, he rotated the carvings on the door to match the carvings on the claw and then fitted the digits of the claw into the indentations and rotated it, which caused the carvings to rotate until they all matched and the door to sink into the ground, revealing a room; upon entering this room, a light blue glow and a barely audible chanting caught Gral's attention as he headed over to a wall which had a number of scratches which he recognised as writing.

' _Dovahzul? What's it doing here? Could this be a Dragon worshipper's tomb?'_ he wondered as everything faded to black except the one word which was highlighted in blue and the chanting became almost deafening before the glow died down and the world returned to normal.

"Well that was weird, why was my attention drawn to Fus like that? I already know the word so that can't be it…" he thought aloud before he heard a loud CLUNK from behind him, he turned to see a Draugr emerge from a coffin which he immediately identified as a Draugr Overlord "OI! Who asked you in?!"

"Zu'u vust laan hi rinis laan" replied the Draugr, before taking a deep breath and shouting "FUS RO DAH!"

This created a dome of blue energy from the Draugr's mouth which expanded as it shot towards Gral and knocked him flying backwards into the wall with the Dovahzul carvings behind him, causing it to crack. Fortunately for Gral, his armour absorbed most of the impact so Gral only experienced minor bruising, but the attack had really irritated him; drawing his swords he rose and fixed the Overlord with a death glare which caused the Draugr to laugh at him.

"Right, just for that I'm going to pull that head of yours off!" he growled and charged, hacking and slicing away at the Draugr like a whirlwind until the Draugr swung at him with an Ancient Nordic Greatsword, which he blocked but the momentum of the attack sent him skidding back, the Draugr wobbled and used its sword to balance by sticking it in the ground.

"Hi fen biis fah tol meyzvolaaniik" it said, looking at Gral with murderous glowing eyes which made him smirk and cross his swords in front of him.

"I don't think so, the only one paying here will be you… brahnu hiraak" Gral's taunt infuriated the Draugr even more, resulting in it charging at him, Ancient Nordic Greatsword held aloft and leaving it wide open, which was what Gral wanted. Quickly, Gral crossed his swords and sliced the Draugr Overlord's legs off, a manoeuvre that was made easier by the decayed state of the Draugr, it fell face first and lost its sword which it attempted to find before Gral planted a foot on its back and placed his hands on each side of its head and pulled, the Draugr's head coming off shortly after and the eyes losing their glow to show it dying, permanently this time.

"Tch, told you I'd rip your head off, stupid corpse" Gral muttered as he walked over to the coffin to see if the Dragonstone was located within, which it was, so Gral swiftly exited the Barrow by an exit he found near the Dovahzul wall. An hour or two later saw him presenting the Dragonstone to Farengar after selling all the loot he'd found in the Barrow to various merchants (namely smiths).

"Ah, this is most satisfactory. Now your job has ended and mine begins… here, take this for your trouble" said Farengar after Gral gave him the Dragonstone, handing over a purse of 100 Septims in return "You know, if you've got the aptitude, you should join the mages' college in Winterhold…"

"Already did, left to travel a while back, the Archmage wasn't too happy" replied Gral as he walked off, passing a hooded woman in leather armour as he did, wondering what he was going to do next before he exited Dragonsreach and saw the roof of Jorrvaskr, he decided to try and join the Companions in order to improve his skills in combat.  
Upon entering Jorrvaskr, he had to duck as a steel plate came spinning towards him and nearly took his head off, next a half full tankard of mead came which he caught and threw back in the general direction of where it came from, hitting a Dark Elf between the eyes, knocking him unconscious and causing the Nord he was in a fist fight with to laugh at his misfortune. Seeing Farkas leaning up against a pillar near the door, he approached him.

"You're Farkas right?" Gral asked when he reached him, causing Farkas to turn and look at him.

"Yeah, Gral wasn't it? Here to join the Companions?" Farkas replied.

"Thought I might give it a go, mainly to improve my skill in combat."

"Right, you'll be wanting to head town those stairs there and talk to the old man, Kodlak. He can look into your eyes and tell you your worth, so it'll be him that decides whether you can join us or not."

"Okay, thanks Farkas" said Gral which earned him a nod from Farkas as he left and headed down the stairs and came into a corridor, looking around the corridor, he saw a black haired man talking to an old man who he assumed was Kodlak and arrived there just as their conversation ended.

"Enough Vilkas, we should not discuss these matters in front of guests" said the old man firmly as he noticed Gral approaching "Hello there friend, my name is Kodlak Whitemane, what can I do for you?"

"My name is Gral, I was told to talk to you about joining the Companions" answered Gral, getting a displeased look from the black haired man that Kodlak had identified as Vilkas as Kodlak gave him an affirmative answer.

"Forgive me for my disrespect Harbinger, but are you just going to let him join, just like that? I've never even heard of this… Gral" interjected Vilkas, frowning at Gral who folded his arms and gave him a bored look back.

"While it is true that our newest member is a complete mystery, remember that the Companions have always accepted members from a variety of sources, sometimes the famous come to us and sometimes people come to us for fame. What matters is not their reputation but the strength of their heart" answered Kodlak, addressing Vilkas' concerns and getting an unimpressed look in return.

"A strong sword arm also helps."

"You have a valid point Vilkas, take Gral upstairs and evaluate his combat performance."

"As you wish."

Vilkas and Gral walked out to the courtyard to test Gral's combat capabilities and stood opposing each other, Vilkas drew a Steel Greatsword and yelled a battle cry, charging at Gral and swinging at him, Gral ducked under the swing and propelled himself into Vilkas, tackling him onto the floor. Gral quickly got up before Vilkas could recover and stood, placing one foot on the blade of the greatsword and one foot on Vilkas' chest while drawing one of his swords, pointing it at Vilkas' chin.

"Yield" he said and as Vilkas did so, he got up and picked up his blade, returning it to its sheathe on his back.

"You're mightier than you look and smarter too, not many would think to defeat me like that, I'd say you're competent enough to join us. Now, as your first task as a Companion, you can take my sword to Eorland Gray-mane. You'll find him working the Skyforge there" Vilkas said, handing a sword to Gral of a make that Gral did not recognise and then pointed to a hill next to the courtyard which Gral headed to and met with the Eorland, the aged smith took the sword and gave him a shield and asked him to take it to Aela the Huntress, who was located in the living quarters of Jorrvaskr. Upon walking into her room, he encountered her talking to another Companion named Skjor.

"Eorland asked me to give you this" Gral said, handing her the shield.

"Ah, finally finished fixing it has he? Wait, you look familiar…" she said, frowning in thought until she remembered "you were the milk-drinker that headbutted me back at that farm!"

"You'd think that someone headbutting you would be more memorable, does it really happen to you that often?"

"Shut it before I decide to introduce you to my dagger!"

"I wouldn't do that if I were you Aela" interrupted Skjor "I saw him fighting Vilkas in the courtyard, he's a tricky one."

"So it was you that gave Vilkas a good thrashing, I wonder how you'd fare in a real fight against him…" Aela said, looking impressed at Gral's accomplishment, which caused Gral to frown.

"He underestimated me and I caught him off guard, two factors that I used to defeat him. He won't make the same mistake again if he's smart" replied Gral, folding his arms "Now was there anything else or can I go now?"

"You've got spirit… I like you" said Aela, giving Gral a smirk "Maybe I'll fight or hunt with you myself one day, but for now Farkas will show you to your room."

As if summoned by Aela mentioning his name, Farkas walked in and after exchanging a few words with Aela and Skjor, he motioned for Gral to follow him.

"So Kodlak approved of you, that's good. I think you'll be a great addition to the Companions" he said to Gral as he walked, which surprised Gral as most of the other Companions didn't seem to think much of him.

"Thanks, it's always nice when someone makes you feel welcome" replied Gral, taking in his surroundings.

"Don't worry about the others, they're distrusting of outsiders and with good reason, but they'll eventually warm up to you."

"I guess I can only hope but in the end it doesn't really matter to me, if they want to distrust me then that's their business."

"That's probably the best attitude to take, just gain their respect and you won't have a problem with them" Farkas said as they rounded a corner and came into a room filled with beds "This is where the new bloods stay, your bed is over there in the corner, if you want work, come and see me later."

"Right thanks, I'll see you in a bit, just let me put my stuff down" replied Gral, putting a bag on his bed which contained mostly clothes and smithing supplies to maintain and replair his equipment.  
Over the next few days, Gral completed a large number of jobs, slowly gaining the respect of the other members of the Companions until Skjor asked to see him, Skjor explained that Gral's activities had been noticed and the Circle had decided to give Gral a trial to become a full member by ordering him to retrieve a fragment of Ysgramor's axe from Dustman's Cairn with Farkas along to act as his Shield Brother and observer, thus the two met outside Dustman's Cairn.

"So this is it?" Gral asked as they entered, seeing a few dead Draugr on the floor.

"Yeah, looks like someone's been doing some serious digging here though, so tread lightly" replied Farkas, unsheathing his Steel Greatsword, the two continued on and had a little skirmish with a few Restless Draugr and Gral took quite a few things that were valuable from chests and shelves, they continued like this until they came into an open room with a grate obscuring one of the passages.

"There must be a lever or something around here to raise that gate" said Gral, looking around until he spotted a small alcove with a few potions and a lever, which he moved but it caused a gate to trap him in the alcove, he quickly decided to try and raise the gate by moving the lever again but old age had gotten it stuck until the handle of the lever broke off completely, the sound alerting Farkas who came over and saw the predicament he was in.

"Now look what you've gotten yourself into, stay there and I'll find a release" Farkas said, amused as a number of people in Fur Armour burst in and surrounded Farkas, Gral was not amused.

"It's not like I can go anywhere now, can I? And who are these yahoos?" retorted an angry Gral as the intruders started blabbering on about killing Farkas and how anyone who wears his armour dies until one said something about a story, which prompted a chilling retort from Farkas.

"None of you will be alive to tell it" he said as he hunched over, Gral could hear his bones cracking as Farkas' armour disappeared and was replaced by fur until a large bipedal wolf stood where Farkas had been and proceeded to slaughter the intruders before running off and the gate in front of Gral rose as Farkas returned.

"I hope I didn't scare ya."

"Hardly, a man turning into a wolf in not the strangest thing I've seen" replied Gral, searching the bodies for something of value, which he found in their weapons as they seemed to be made of pure silver.

"So what's the strangest thing you've seen?" asked Farkas, looking genuinely interested as Gral finished his looting and they headed further into the Cairn.

"Probably a cult of morons that worships a Dragon that's headed by an idiot that eats souls to gain power" answered Gral, referring to his family and the Dragon Priest that headed their cult, Nahkriin.

"Huh, I suppose that's a lot stranger than our blessing."

"Am I to expect the same blessing once I complete this trial?"

"Not right away, no. It's reserved only for the Circle. Prove your honor to be a Companion; Eyes on the prey, not the horizon."

"Maybe you should try being a poet at some point."

The two continued like this, making idle conversation and killing Draugr and Silver Hand (Farkas had told Gral the name of the organization they had encountered, they were an organisation of werewolf hunters that had a vendetta against the Companions for some reason) until they reached the main chamber of the Cairn where the fragment of the axe rested on what appeared to be an alter, Farkas went over to it and picked it up which caused a majority of the coffins in the room to open and a large number of Draugr to step out.

"Ah, crap" groaned Farkas as one emerged from the coffin next to him and blew him away with an Unrelenting Force shout, Farkas flew over a table and straight into Gral where the two fell and were soon surrounded by the Draugr "Sorry about that Gral."

"No worries" replied Gral as the two got to their feet and stood back to back, looking at the Draugr "Well this is a WONDERFUL predicament we've gotten ourselves into."

"I'm beginning to think that it comes with the territory of knowing you."

"I can't really dispute that"

"Tiid wah dir, volaan" said the one that blew Farkas away, which Gral identified as a Draugr Deathlord, causing Gral and Farkas to glare at him.

"Oh bugger off would ya?" said Gral and Farkas in unison before they both leaped into action, Gral stabbing the Deathlord in the chest with both his swords, killing it instantly while Farkas sliced two of the Draugr in half horizontally with his greatsword before slicing another one vertically, a couple of the Draugr stepped back to avoid Farkas' strikes but they were quickly dispatched by Gral until there were no more Draugr.

"Well, that was fun" said Gral, checking the bodies for something of value.

"Speak for yourself, now let's get back to Jorrvaskr before something else happens" replied Farkas as the duo set off back to Jorrvaskr where they were met by Vilkas at the doors when they arrived.

"I see you have returned, the Circle waits for you in the courtyard" he said before walking off around the building to the courtyard as Gral and Farkas followed.

"Brothers and Sisters of the Circle, today we are here to welcome this man into our mortal fold" said Kodlak as everyone took their places in, ironically, a circle with Gral standing opposite Kodlak and Farkas standing on Kodlak's left "This man has endured, has challenged and has shown his valour. Who will speak for him?"

"I stand witness to the courage of the soul before us" answered Farkas, causing Kodlak to look at him.

"Would you raise your shield in his defence?"

"I would stand at his back, that the world might never overtake us."

"And would you raise your sword in his honor?"

"It stands ready to meet the blood of his foes."

"And would you raise a mug in his name?"

"I would lead the song of triumph as our mead hall reveled in his stories."

"Then the judgement of this Circle is complete, his heart beats with the fury and courage that have united the Companions since the days of the distant green summers. Let it beat with ours that the mountains may echo and our enemies may tremble at the call."

"It shall be so" said all the other members of the Circle in unison before they walked off and Kodlak approached Gral.

"So boy, you're one of us now, I hope you won't disappoint" said Kodlak.

"I do not intend to disappoint, it'd ruin my credentials" replied Gral in a joking tone getting a laugh from the old man.

"I think you'll fit in here just fine" Kodlak responded before he walked off, noticing that it was late, Gral headed inside to get something to eat and some sleep.

 **Scene Change: Skuldafn**

Alduin looked up as the red form of Odahviing joined her in her meditations.

"I notice that you've been keeping tabs on that joor Gral, thuri" he said as he landed, which got an odd look from Alduin.

"I trust you didn't come here to state the obvious, Odahviing. I would be greatly displeased if you did" she replied, getting a worried look from him as he recoiled slightly.

"Nothing of the sort, but the other Dov are getting restless with our inactivity, most were expecting all our war with the joor upon your return and so far, all we have done is sit around in their eyes" he answered, getting an aggravated growl from the black Dragoness.

"Waan nust laan wah kos kriin naal joor ruz vos niin, but I refuse to allow them to compromise my plans ust because they could not control their bloodlust" she growled, her use of Dovahzul - though not loud - shaking the mountain the ruin was built into from the sheer force of her anger.

"You need not worry thuri, few would dare go against you. Although..." Odahviing trailed off with a worried look in his eyes, something Alduin did not miss.

"Although?" she asked.

"Mirmulnir recently left Skuldafn, he claimed it was for hunting purposes, but you know how he can get around the joor. He was headed for the Hold known as Whiterun" Odahviing answered, knowing that Alduin would find out regardless of whether he told her or not.

"I will follow him and monitor his actions. If he attacks the joor, I will kill him as an example to all who would dare ignore my orders" she stated bluntly as Odahviing rolled his eyes.

"And I'm sure that the opportunity to test that joor you're so interested in has nothing to do with anything as you know he will not be able to resist investigating Mirmulnir's attacks" he said sarcastically.

"I'm sure it doesn't Odahviing" Alduin retorted, equally as sarcastically before she took off.

 _'I guess that we'll be officially meeting soon Gral, let's see if you're truly worthy of my interest'_ Alduin thought, pushing the concerning information that her spies had recently unearthed to the back of her mind (as it was not currently an issue) as she flew in the direction of Whiterun _'If you prove your worth, I may have some use for you when I retake this world and place the Dov back where they belong…'_

* * *

 **And that's that, the amended Chapter II. Similar to the first one, it eeps the majority of the framework of the original while changing a couple of things that I wasn't satisfied with while reading over the chapters. I hope this has improved the chapters quality overall. I honestly had fun writing (and improving) this chapter and I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it, though if any of you are wondering why Gral seems more advanced in the Dragon Language than he should be, it's because he grew up around Dragons and spent a majority of his life around them, his full Bio is on my profile if you're interested but it may not be fully accurate because his character evolves as I write the story and that Bio was literally me writing down ideas so I wouldn't forget them.  
Anyway, here are the translations for the chapter:**

 _Zu'u vust laan hi rinis laan - I could ask you the same question (Dragon Language appears to have some words having multiple meanings depending on the context of the statement)_

 _FUS RO DAH - Force Balance Push, the Unrelenting Force shout._

 _Hi fen biis fah tol meyzvolaaniik - You will pay for that trespasser._

 _brahnu hiraak - Useless pig (I originally wanted to have Incompetent Swine, but there doesn't seem to be a translation for that)._

 _tiid wah dir, volaan - Time to die, intruders._

 _Waan nust laan wah kos kriin naal joor ruz vos niin -_ _if they want to be slain by mortals then let them_

 **So as always, please leave me some feedback, usual reviewing rules apply and they can be found in Chapter I because I'm (still) too lazy to post them today and I think that's all I have to say,**

 **So, until next time,**

 **Darth Annihilator - out.**


	3. AN On Updates of this Fic (as a letter)

**Dear My Wonderful Readers,**

 **Okay, I know this is not what any fan of the story ever wants to see, but I'm just putting this Authors Note out to inform any fans of this fic that I've changed a few things in the first two chapters and updated the title of the fic, so please go and read them and let me know what your thoughts on them are. Don't worry, I'm working on Chapter III at the moment (though Kin or Killer will have less frequent updates than my other two main stories) so that chapter will replace this AN when it's finished.**

 **I thank you all for your patience and hope Chapter III will be worth the wait.**

 **Yours Sincerely,**

 **Darth Annihilator**


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